


(Do Not) Fear What Lies Ahead

by thegoodthebadandthenerdy



Series: Femslash Feb 2018 [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2018, Halloween, also luna wears a suit which i feel like deserves its own tag, but she loves a good thrill all the same, ginny scares so easily, luna and her father go all out w scary Halloween decorations, so beware if youre not good w stuff like tht, theyre so in love !! and so proud of one another !!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-12 15:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13549995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoodthebadandthenerdy/pseuds/thegoodthebadandthenerdy
Summary: The night's supposed to be about getting dressed up and dancing until your feet ache, but every story needs a middle, and the dance doesn't start 'til eight, anyway.Femslash Feb Day 2: "Fear"





	(Do Not) Fear What Lies Ahead

**Author's Note:**

> and now,, let's throw it back w some linny, the first girls in love tht i loved :')
> 
> (this is also another first for my first femslash feb aka my first linny fic!)

Ginny affixes the mask to her face, the crimson material molding against the high planes of her cheeks. She studies her reflection, nervously tracing the visible freckles that dapple her undereyes.

Experimentally, she next quirks her lips upward, watching the way her new lip gloss shimmers under her feeble bedroom light. It reminds her, vaugely, of stars.

Finally, she shifts the pale blue bowtie at her throat until it sits just so. Just so meanng exactly how it was before she began fiddling with it in the first place.

"Ginny!" her mother crows from downstairs. "I want pictures before you leave!"

Ginny exhales through puckered lips, dutifully picking herself and her wide-skirted up. She spins one last time, letting the knee-length bounds of tulle flare out from her body ever so slightly until she feels like one of the princesses she grew up equally idolizing and crushing on.

With a nod to her reflection, she confirms what she already suspected: she looks damn good.

She snatches up her flats from the edge of her bed and hops into them on the landing before bouncing down the stairs. She finds her mother at the bottom, carrot hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, camera strap slung around her neck, and the clunky device in hand.

"Oh," Molly says softly, her eyes moving across Ginny's face. "Darling, you look stunning."

Ginny pulls nervously at the silky material of her dress strap, fingers digging into the freckles that spatter there too. "Can we just get this over with," she mutters.

Molly rolls her eyes goodnaturedly, but obliges her daughter. Hoisting the camera up, she instructs Ginny to smile ("Like you mean it, Ginerva.") and sets to snapping more photos than necessary.

"It's a Halloween dance, not a gala," Ginny grouses finally, crossing her arms over her chest, officially putting an end to the impromptu photoshoot in their foyer.

"All right, all right, fine," Molly concedes, letting the camera rest against her chest. She swipes a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her features shifting from excited to serious in a second flat. "Now, remember what we talked about: keep your ringer up, check in before you leave, be home by midnight, and for the love of everything holy, Ginny, keep tonight legal. I'm already on high alert for the twins, so if you do anything stupid I'm sending Percy after you."

" _Percy_?" Ginny squawks. "Why Percy?" 

Molly's lips purse, her face taking on an expression Ginny had just seen moments before in her own mirror. "Because I only trust Bill and Percy to do the right thing and Bill and Fleur are taking Victorie out."

"But what about Charlie?" Ginny shoots back.

"You're arguing this an awful lot for someone who's going to have a safe and legal Halloween," Molly finally says, eyes squinting threateningly. "Should I just go ahead and call Percy to shadow you for the night?"

_Abso-bloody-lutely not._

"No, ma'am," she mumbles instead, patting her pockets for her phone and keys.

"Good. Have fun, I love you."

"Love you, too." She drops a kiss on her mother's cheek and then she's out the door.

The dark of the night is already in full swing, cut only by the warm glow of streetlights that pepper the main road. She can see their hazy halos from where she stands at the bottom of the steps, and angles herself toward them.

The path she takes - down their steep, dirt driveway before hooking a left on the pavement of the main road - is one she knows well. She's been traversing it since she was six, though, back then there'd been someone with her.

Then, it had been a route that delivered her to the front stoop of the fascinating and mildly socially-awkward father-daughter duo that just moved in. Now, it's one that delivers her to what is essentially second home. She's spent countless hours that would total into countless months, maybe years, worth of time. 

Acquaintances turned into best friends turned into budding romance turned into love under the Lovegoods roof, so returning there, after hours or days, always brings peace to her chest.

It's after five minutes of trudging over pebble-infested pavement that she sees the topmost peaks of the sweeping roof that she knows so well.

Within another minute, she can see what she knows to be the attic and second story, and quickly after that, the first story.

Normally, the house rises like something from a storybook, pale blue siding and even paler pink trim greeting anyone who should set their eyes on it. Neat black shingles and a plain black door tie it all together, like a fairytale witch's cottage made of cotton candy.

But tonight, it's ominous.

The blue of the siding seems to glow in the lights they've rigged up, looking washed out and sickly all at once. The windows are lined with fake cobwebs and peering eyes of varying colors ranging from lime green to electric red. Recorded wails seem to bounce around the property, hitting Ginny's ears all the way from the bottom of the driveway.

And the driveway.

Ginny stands at its threshold and marvels at what Luna and Xenophilius have plotted and pulled together in just under a two weeks.

Usually they've got the whole thing planned by August, but nothing seemed to work out this year - Ginny was afraid nothing would get done this year.

She'd never been so ecstatic to be proven wrong.

The gates were coated in sticky faux blood, expertly dripped down the spikes to pool at varying points along the metal. Ripped cloth is stuck haphazardly throughout the gate, messages to turn around written in slanted writing that veers of into shredded fabric or is obscured by blood spatter.

The hairs on the back of Ginny's neck rise and she grins, shaking her hands out giddily.

Gargoyles perch upon either side of the gate, hacking laughtracks currently playing from deep within their throats. As she takes her first step onto the property, they chorus, "Beware, weary Traveler!" in screeching voices.

Ginny jumps, cursing silently under her breath. She always forgets the gargoyles. They're one of Luna's creative brain children - motion sensors combined with a mixture of voice recordings and sound effects rigged to dollar store gargoyle decorations. Each year, Luna and her father record new sayings to match whatever theme they've planned out.

As Ginny ventures farther up the slight hill of the Lovegood property, she can hear Luna's gargoyle voice shrieking, "Beware what lies in the dark!" after her.

The cobbled driveway dips and bumps under her feet and she's left snapping her head back and forth between the stones and her surroundings.

Lights spark in the distance, bursts of yellow paced with red that last no longer than a wink, illuminating marred and shifting shadows that get closer with each flash.

Ginny hurries past them, her skirt flouncing behind her as her pace doubles.

She can see the stairs of the Lovegood's front porch clearly when the first bones appear, severed and stripped hands clawing at the path, skulls with Christmas light twinkling eyes, various lengthy bones that, even in decoration, Ginny doesn't think are meant to be human. 

And even if she were able to block those out, voices lurk just beyond clarity, mumbling unanswered pleas that set her pulse thumping in the crook of her neck. 

The last segement of the driveway is sheltered by tall, rusty green arches pushed together and covered in thick vegetation. Normally, Ginny would cut off from where she stands and meet up with the tiny paving-stone walkway that sits at the bottom of the stairs, but they'd blockaded it off with jagged warning signs, and Ginny didn't trust herself not to ruin her dress in the maze.

Being forced to go through the arches is smart, something Ginny softly tells herself to praise Luna and Xenophilius on when she sees them. 

She takes a deep breath and starts forward.

The moment she steps under the first arch she's swathed in pure darkness. She can feel hands on her bare arms, poking her legs with their distinctly plastic coverings. More Christmas lights burst to life around her, all red bulbs casting malicious shadows across her skin as heavy breathing, something particularly animalistic about it, plays through hidden speakers.

She bursts from the other side and her vision is filled with curling horns and matted fur and gnarled, yellow-brown teeth. A surprised shriek escapes her, followed by a loud, " _Fuck_!" that leaves her bent in half and grasping at her chest.

"Shit, shit, shit!" comes a familiar voice. Ginny manages to look up as Luna removes the large mask, her tight, blonde curls tumbling down to frame her brown-turned-blue-by-the-lights face. 

"Ginny, darling, I'm so sorry, I thought you were Dean! He texted he was on his way up a few minutes ago," Luna says hurriedly, the words tumbling from her painted lips.

Ginny mumbles something as she straightens back up, taking Luna's shoulders in her hands as she did.

"What?" Luna asks, icy eyes wide with remorse.

"I said 'that was the best fucking one, love,'" Ginny repeats, hands moving up to cup the sides of her girlfriend's face. "You two did amazing."

Luna's face breaks into a relieved grin. "You really think so?"

"Yes!" Ginny grins, her cheeks flushed and her dimples pulled wide. "It's perfect."

Luna's face softens even farther at that. "Dad and I were so worried," she explains with a shaky laugh, her eyes casting down.

Ginny drops her hands from Luna's face until she can wrap her arms around her waist. She hoists the blonde up deftly, spinning her as she exclains "You're so bloody talented, there was never any reason to be," to the night until Luna is laughing, conpletely delighted, her eyes scrunched shut and her mouth blossomed into a full grin.

She fumbles a grab of two handfuls of Ginny's face and brings their lips together fitfully. They bump noses and clack teeth and they can't stop laughing, but the kisses still make each girl's heart swell.

As Ginny finally deposits Luna back to the ground, she smooths out the light blue of her suit jacket before letting her hands rest on her hips. Luna still has a hold of Ginny's face and they're looking at each other completely enamored, too wrapped up in love to care who sees the sappiness in their respective gazes. It's then they find it in themselves to meet for a real, toe-tingling, head-in-the-clouds, lipstick smudging kiss that leaves them breathless when they part.

A voice comes from behind them as they break, "You're such a spoilsport, Dee." 

"And yet here we are, on our second anniversary."

"You've used that four times today."

"You love it."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you can-"

"Boys? Sorry to interrupt, but can give us two more seconds," Luna calls without ever breaking their eye contact, nor the inch strip of air that seperates her and Ginny's lips. "My girlfriend and I are having a moment that I doubt you'll want to see."

"You two've got to work on your privacy skills," the first voice drones, the edge of a smile evident in the tone.

"Why don't you and your boyfriend try those out in the tunnel, Seamus, let me know how they work for you," Ginny jibes back goodnaturedly before peppering three quick kisses from the corner of Luna's eye to her cheek to her lips.

"Don't think we've got too much longer, then," she says, voice hushed.

"Nuh-uh," Luna agrees with a tiny smile and the shake of her head and endless curls alike.

"You really did do a fantastic job, I wasn't joking."

"Thank you."

"I love you, Lunes."

"I love you, too, darling."

Ginny grabs Luna's hand and squeezes it, a mirrored smile finding its way onto her face. They tug each other's hand at the same time, pulling one another along for the night's great adventure.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on tumblr @desertrosetico !


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